Spain on Friday threatened Italy with countermeasures if Rome did not lift this week its one-month suspension of the free-travel Schengen agreement, introduced after the mass migrant rush to Ceuta.<\/p>\n
The rare spat between the EU and NATO allies came after tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco to the Spanish north African territory last week in an unprecedented and deadly rush.<\/p>\n
The scenes infuriated other European Union members that back a hard line on irregular immigration and the protection of the bloc\u2019s external borders, including far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.<\/p>\n
The Spanish government again hit out at Italy on Friday for a measure it described as \u201cunfair, contrary to the EU\u2019s interests and discriminatory for the Spanish population\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the government of Italy to rectify, put an end to the checks and treat Spaniards like other European citizens,\u201d the government said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it does not do so before the end of Sunday, August 9, Spain will be obliged to adopt proportional measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement did not specify what the reprisals would be. Italy\u2019s measures have included the closure of maritime and air entry points as well as the reinforcement of land border controls.<\/p>\n
The suspension of Italy\u2019s Schengen agreement with Spain, announced on July 31, was an \u201cextraordinary measure\u201d intended to \u201csafeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation\u201d, Meloni said.<\/p>\n
She was among EU leaders who called for Spain to be suspended from the visa-free Schengen travel zone after the Ceuta incident, despite such a move being legally impossible.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s coalition government has sought to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who land in small boats on the country\u2019s shores each year.<\/p>\n
The Spanish government warned against \u201ccreating rifts and sterile conflicts driven by internal electoral motives\u201d and said \u201cwe trust that pro-European sentiment, common sense and good faith prevail\u201d.<\/p>\n
Of the 72,000 migrants who reached Ceuta, 70,000 have returned to Morocco, according to official Spanish figures, which have recorded 80 deaths.<\/p>\n
Morocco\u2019s interior ministry has said 11 people died on the Moroccan side of the border, all but one by drowning.<\/p>\n
Those who remain in Ceuta \u2014 including hundreds of unaccompanied children \u2014 face dire living conditions with little access to food, water, shelter and sanitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain on Friday threatened Italy with countermeasures if Rome did not lift this week its one-month suspension of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1150,6380,17],"class_list":["post-67366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-international","tag-mna","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}